Pauline Adelaide Haislip Duncan (1888–1973)

Pauline Adelaide Haislip Smith Duncan served as one of Virginia's
first female law enforcement officers. She was a charter member of the Organized
Women Voters of Arlington
County, which was among a number of local civic and political groups she
joined after women received the right to
vote. The organization pushed for a woman deputy in 1923, recommending
Smith. She recorded her first criminal arrest the following year and served until
1943, surviving an attempt to remove her in 1927. Smith mostly worked on cases
involving women and children, though she at times chased thieves and helped stop
fights. She also aided the local Parent-Teacher Association and the Girl Scouts,
helping earn her the nickname Aunt Polly. The Organized Women Voters of Arlington
County honored her as its Woman of the Year in 1965. MORE...

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Duncan was born on June 14, 1888, probably at Mason Neck, Fairfax County, where her parents, William Walter
Haislip and Alice Ellen Simmons Haislip, worked at Gunston Hall, the former plantation of George Mason. The family moved in
1893 to Washington, D.C., where her father worked as a grocer, carpenter, and
contractor, and where she attended public schools. In 1908 Haislip was arrested in
Washington for shooting an African American youth in the knee during a Fourth of July
celebration. Following an investigation of what she maintained had been an accident,
authorities dropped the charges. By 1910 Haislip was employed as a manicurist in New
York City. On August 15, 1913, she married Charles F. Smith in the city of Alexandria. They lived in Washington
for several years.

In 1921 they purchased a house in the Virginia Highlands section of Arlington County.
Pauline Smith soon immersed herself in the county's civic life. In 1923 she became a
charter member of the Organized Women Voters of Arlington County and during the next
two decades served on numerous committees, including the executive committee, and as
a district chairman. In the mid-1920s Smith joined the women's auxiliary of the local
fire department. She sat on committees of the Jefferson Civic League and was active
in the local Democratic
Party. Although Smith did not have children, she joined the Parent-Teacher
Association of the neighborhood public school and worked with the Girl Scouts. Known
in the area as Aunt Polly, she held tea parties that children later fondly
remembered.

After World War I (1914–1918), many cities established women's divisions of their police
departments, including Washington, D.C., in 1918. In 1923, following a case in which
a young girl had to submit to a physical examination before an all-male board, the
Organized Women Voters sought assurances from the candidates for Arlington County
sheriff that the victor would appoint a woman deputy. The group recommended Smith as
a suitable choice, and by July 1924 she had made her first criminal arrest. She
numbered among the earliest female law enforcement officers in Virginia. Like other
female officers, Smith most often handled cases involving women and children,
although the newspapers occasionally noted her daring work chasing thieves and
breaking up brawls. There was an attempt to remove her from office in 1927, but after
local civic groups rallied to her defense, she was reappointed that December. In 1930
Smith helped lead the Organized Women Voters' campaign for the construction of a new
jail. She continued as deputy sheriff through 1943, the only woman on a rapidly
expanding force that in 1940 was divided into separate sheriff and police
departments.

Smith and her husband separated in January 1936 and divorced on November 19, 1938. By
March 1942 she had married Edward Greenwood Duncan, an Arlington police officer
seventeen years her junior, who died after a long illness on September 4, 1943. The
Organized Women Voters of Arlington County named Duncan its Woman of the Year in 1965
for her many contributions to the community. Pauline Adelaide Haislip Smith Duncan
died at an Alexandria nursing home on March 30, 1973, and was buried in the cemetery
of Pohick Episcopal Church, in Fairfax County, where her parents and second husband
were also interred.

1923
- Following a case in which a young girl had to submit to a physical examination before an all-male board, the Organized Women Voters seek assurances from the candidates for Arlington County sheriff that the victor will appoint a woman deputy, recommending Pauline Adelaide Haislip Smith for the job.

July 1924
- By this time, Pauline Adelaide Haislip Smith has made her first criminal arrest as deputy sheriff of Arlington County.

December 1927
- Pauline Adelaide Haislip Smith is reappointed deputy sheriff of Arlington County after an attempt earlier that year to remove her from office.

1930
- Pauline Adelaide Haislip Smith helps lead the Organized Women Voters of Arlington County's campaign for the construction of a new jail.

January 1936
- Pauline Adelaide Haislip Smith and Charles F. Smith separate after almost twenty-three years of marriage.